Episode 157 of Dragon Ball Z, first broadcast in Japan on September 16, 1992 and titled Hour of Temptation in Funimation's dub, is both Vegeta's triumph and his trap. Fresh out of the Hyperbolic Time Chamber, the Saiyan prince overpowers Cell with almost insulting ease, and that is exactly why he starts to feel such a weak opponent is not worth the trouble. The Japanese title, "Dangerous Pride," tells you where this is heading.
Summary
Semi-perfect Cell cannot understand where Vegeta found this much power and accuses him of bluffing. The Saiyan answers with mockery and even turns his back to make things easier for him. Enraged, Cell leaps away and hits him with a Galick Gun, a technique he owns thanks to Vegeta's own cells. When the smoke clears, the prince has not got a scratch on him.
From a distance, Android 16 and Android 18 watch the fight, hidden on an island. Krillin, carrying Bulma's shutdown remote, can no longer find 18 and fears she has already been absorbed. Up on Kami's Lookout, Piccolo warns that Vegeta cannot be trusted, while Bulma worries about him and Trunks.
Inside the Hyperbolic Time Chamber, Gohan wakes from a dream in which he almost turned Super Saiyan and finds his father out in the snow facing huge walls of ice. Goku shatters them with a Kamehameha, gets frozen solid in the process and only breaks free by transforming. Gohan tells him he feels ready, and the real training begins.
Back on the island, Cell tries to catch Vegeta from behind, only to be grabbed and thrown aside. The battle moves underwater, and the monster even tries to absorb the Saiyan with his tail, but Vegeta traps it under his arm and drives him off with an elbow. Once they surface, the prince explains that Cell has no hope: even if he slipped past him, Trunks, almost as strong as his father, would finish the job. Cornered, Cell falls back on the only weapon he has left. If he could just absorb 18 and become perfect, he swears, nobody could beat him. That is how Krillin learns the Android is still alive. For now Vegeta dismisses the offer as a childish tantrum, but Trunks looks on, uneasy.
Our take
This is the episode where the Cell saga changes course while almost nothing concrete happens. Vegeta wins every exchange, yet this is where he starts losing the war: the fight stops interesting him the moment he realizes he is superior. Takao Koyama, the series' head writer, builds the whole installment on that imbalance, with Cell humiliated more and more and a prince who is getting bored.
The weak spot is the usual one. To stretch a handful of pages from chapter 379, the anime pads the fight with an underwater sequence, Cell's Galick Gun and scenes of Gohan and Goku in the Chamber. Some additions work, like Gohan's dream, which sets up his transformation; others, such as Chiaotzu fretting at Kame House, just fill minutes. Cell's furious, frustrated scream at the end, though, is hard to forget.
Trivia
- It adapts chapter 379 (pages 1-7 and 11 to the end, with changes). Written by Takao Koyama, directed by Yoshihiro Ueda with animation direction by Tadayoshi Yamamuro, it drew an 18.7% share.
- In the manga, the famous shot of Vegeta kicking Cell in the stomach plays out differently; the anime replaces it with a string of upward kicks.
- Cell's Galick Gun, the underwater fight, Goku encased in ice and a worried Chiaotzu at Kame House are all anime additions.
- Animation slip: for one cut during the chase, Vegeta appears with his black base-form hair.
- Cell's scream of frustration became an internet meme known as "Shoop Da Whoop," popularized by a YouTube compilation uploaded in 2007.
- Funimation's English dub premiered on Cartoon Network on October 27, 2000.
Characters
- Vegeta, Cell and Trunks
- Krillin, Android 16 and Android 18
- Piccolo and Bulma on Kami's Lookout
- Goku and Gohan in the Hyperbolic Time Chamber
- Chiaotzu at Kame House